The Heaven-Slaying Sword - Chapter 3

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈

Chapter 3: Chapter One - Childhood (2)

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The next morning was busy.

Mok Ri-won had been too excited to sleep and had gotten up before sunrise, making a fuss.

“You little rascal, I’m not going anywhere, even if you don’t pester me so.”

“Hehe... I know, but still.”

“Impatience is a bad habit when learning martial arts. You must learn to take things slowly.”

“Yes!”

He certainly was good at answering.

Mok Seon-o smiled at the thought. After an early breakfast, he led Mok Ri-won into the yard.

“Now, your proper training begins today. Are you prepared?”

“Yes!”

“Truly?”

Mok Seon-o narrowed his eyes.

Mok Ri-won flinched beneath that gaze and gave the matter some more thought.

After a moment, he decided there was nothing else he needed to prepare.

“Yes! I truly am!”

Mok Ri-won’s eyes sparkled.

Today was the day he would learn to spill stars into broad daylight. He was filled with anticipation for the mysterious teachings the old man would give him.

Thump. Thump.

As Mok Ri-won’s young heart raced, Mok Seon-o spoke.

“Then let us begin by learning the Horse Stance.”

Mok Ri-won’s expression went blank.

* * *

The Horse Stance.

A posture formed by spreading one’s legs shoulder-width apart and bending the knees at right angles.

It was one of the basic forms every martial artist went through and continued practicing throughout life, but Mok Ri-won had no way of knowing that.

Lacking common sense, he could only be puzzled.

He took the Horse Stance as instructed, but he could not understand what such an exhausting pose had to do with spilling stars.

Mok Seon-o noticed his confusion.

So he explained.

“Won, what supports a tree?”

“I-its roots...!”

“That’s right. Does a tree with deep roots sway in a light breeze?”

“N-no!”

“Martial arts are the same. Martial arts give form to the principles of nature within the human body. Before you begin proper training, you need to strengthen your lower body, the roots of your physical form.”

Mok Seon-o’s tone was stern.

He left Mok Ri-won no room to argue, as if this was one matter on which he would never yield.

“I told you that martial artists are judged by the level of internal energy they possess. Still, that is only a common standard. In the end, martial arts are performed through the body. No matter how profound one’s internal energy may be, if the body that wields it is weak, wouldn’t the power of those arts fail to reach even a tenth of its potential?”

Mok Seon-o continued at length.

Mok Ri-won could not focus.

Of course he could not.

He was only seven years old.

No matter how gifted he was, his muscles were still soft, and his stamina could not keep up.

He tried his best to pay attention, but even that was difficult.

All Mok Ri-won could do was groan as he held the Horse Stance.

“If you truly wish to become a master, you must focus more on building a solid foundation than on raising your realm through internal energy.”

‘Roots... A foundation...!’

The weather was annoyingly bright and pleasant.

Sweat trickled down Mok Ri-won beneath the blazing sun as he clung to the few words he had managed to catch.

Strong legs.

Like everyone else, Mok Ri-won’s long training began with building them.

* * *

Three months passed.

Mok Ri-won’s training progress could be summed up in one word.

Slow.

It was slow enough to make one wonder whether Mok Seon-o was truly teaching someone born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star.

Still, this was not a problem with Mok Ri-won’s talent.

It would be more accurate to call it Mok Seon-o’s policy.

‘It will take him only an instant to sense qi.’

Mok Seon-o dared to predict it.

The instant he sent qi flowing through the boy’s body, Mok Ri-won would complete the Small Heavenly Circuit, a feat worthy of the Second-rate Realm.

His overwhelming talent would accomplish that absurd task at once.

That was why Mok Seon-o had not rashly taught him how to handle qi.

‘Internal energy his body cannot bear will only harm Won.’

Proper martial training meant the balanced growth of three elements: mind, qi, and body.

What would happen if he ignored that and taught qi first?

The body, which represented the physical aspect, would be unable to bear the qi flooding within it. Its Blood Channels would be damaged.

‘Slowly. First, I must strengthen the vessel.’

So that the instant he felt qi, he could reach the true Second-rate Realm.

So that his body could endure the qi flowing into it at that moment.

Everything Mok Seon-o had done over the past three months had been for that purpose.

He taught Mok Ri-won the Horse Stance.

He also had him run through the mountains, practice basic straight punches, and throw front kicks.

Today, after bringing his body onto the right track, Mok Seon-o finally spoke.

“Stop.”

Mok Ri-won, who had been holding the Horse Stance until then, collapsed onto the ground.

His entire body was drenched in sweat, and he panted heavily.

Mok Seon-o watched him with satisfaction before speaking.

“The time has come.”

Mok Ri-won’s eyes flew open.

His startled gaze shot toward Mok Seon-o.

“Internal energy?!”

His excited cry was only natural.

Why would it not be?

This was why Mok Ri-won had endured all that hardship.

Mok Seon-o chuckled and nodded.

“Yes. It is time for you to learn how to feel qi.”

Mok Ri-won groaned as he pushed himself up.

Then he sat straight and looked up at Mok Seon-o.

“I’m ready!”

“Ready? You’re soaked in sweat. How can you focus on circulating qi like that? Go wash yourself in the stream first.”

Mok Ri-won hurried toward the stream.

Was he really that desperate to learn?

Mok Seon-o could only laugh heartily as he watched Mok Ri-won run off at full tilt.

* * *

The front yard was quiet.

The child’s eager tension seemed to make the silence deeper.

“Won, sit cross-legged. You remember what I taught you, don’t you?”

“Yes!”

Mok Ri-won sat down.

When he had first learned the posture, the ache in his groin had made him groan. Now, though, he assumed it naturally without even blinking.

“Now, what is the Internal Cultivation Method you will learn today?”

“The Star-Linking Divine Technique!”

“And what kind of martial art is the Star-Linking Divine Technique?”

“It’s a martial art that engraves constellations in your mind!”

“You remembered well. Very good.”

Mok Ri-won grinned.

Mok Seon-o placed a hand on his back and continued.

“Our founding patriarch, who created the Star-Linking Divine Technique, once said this: Even in the darkest night, stars have been left behind to shine. With them, we must drive away the dark clouds hanging over the martial world.”

“Yes!”

“That is why the Star-Linking Divine Technique is the martial art of chivalrous martial heroes. It is also a martial art for humankind. As you continue your training, you must never forget that.”

“Yes!”

Mok Ri-won answered firmly as he recalled what he had learned in theory.

‘Ten. That’s the goal.’

The Star-Linking Divine Technique had ten stages of attainment, from one star to ten stars.

Each stage engraved a star within one’s mind. Once all ten stars had been engraved, one might even aspire to Ascension through this supremely powerful martial art.

‘I’m going to become second-rate now.’

Today, he would engrave one star.

Then he would finally reach the Second-rate Realm, the level at which he could be called a martial artist.

The thought made Mok Ri-won’s smile impossible to wipe away.

Mok Seon-o watched him with an indulgent smile before beginning.

“Then let us begin. You remember what you must do?”

“Yes! I’ll recite the formula and guide the qi as you lead it, forming the Small Heavenly Circuit!”

“Good. I am glad you remember.”

Mok Seon-o said nothing more and began releasing the internal energy within his dantian.

Shaaah...

Chilling starlight poured from Mok Seon-o’s body.

It enveloped Mok Ri-won.

Mok Ri-won felt something strange.

It was as though a new world had overlapped the world he knew.

Something formless brushed against his skin, something that felt so natural he wondered why he had never known of it before.

At last, Mok Ri-won felt qi, the root of all things.

‘Amazing...’

Why was it so warm?

Why was it so comforting?

Though he had encountered it for the first time, it felt more familiar than anything else in the world. Mok Ri-won’s thoughts gradually sank into stillness.

Qi touched his skin.

It seeped in and flowed through his body.

The boundary between the world and himself blurred, and a vast current began engraving itself within his young body.

The State of Selflessness.

An enlightenment so profound that ordinary martial artists could struggle to experience it even once in their lives, a state in which one forgot even one’s own existence.

Mok Ri-won’s fate as a killing fiend granted him such enlightenment from the very moment he first sensed qi.

A star appeared within his mind.

It was a star of potential, one whose color could not yet be fully defined.

That star slowly began settling into place.

Creating a star on the very day he first felt qi was already an astonishing achievement, but Mok Ri-won was not satisfied.

Not one star, but a higher realm.

Toward the place where a second, barely discernible star lay.

Just as Mok Ri-won sank into enlightenment and tried to seize it...

“Stop!”

Mok Seon-o roared.

Startled, Mok Ri-won jolted and opened his eyes.

He whipped his head around.

What he saw was Mok Seon-o staring at him, cold sweat streaming down his face.

“Master...?”

Mok Ri-won tilted his head.

Mok Seon-o could not answer.

It was because of a trait Mok Ri-won possessed that even he had not expected.

The problem was not the depth of the internal energy.

Mok Seon-o had considered that possibility from the moment he decided to teach him.

Nor was it that enlightenment had come too early.

Those with exceptional martial talent naturally wrestled with waves of enlightenment at any time. Mok Seon-o himself had gone through the same process.

There was only one reason for the confusion on his face.

‘His Blood Channels...’

Mok Ri-won’s Blood Channels were vastly different from those of an ordinary person.

No, there was a more fitting word than different.

‘...They run in reverse.’

His Blood Channels were inverted.

The paths through which blood, vital essence, and life flowed stretched in the opposite direction from those of ordinary people.

Mok Seon-o knew what such a body meant.

The human body was made in imitation of nature.

Among its parts, the Blood Channels represented the natural order one was meant to follow.

If they stretched in reverse, it meant Mok Ri-won’s Blood Channels existed in a form that defied that order.

In other words, his body had been made for Demonic Arts.

* * *

Internal energy training was canceled.

Mok Ri-won pouted and kicked at a pebble in the yard.

A full week had passed.

Mok Seon-o had said it was too early to train internal energy, then had given him no training of any kind. That was why Mok Ri-won had grown so upset.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

Perhaps he had done something he should not have while sensing internal energy.

Or perhaps the body he had trained so hard was still not strong enough by Mok Seon-o’s standards.

Mok Ri-won’s expression darkened.

He had come to the conclusion that he had disappointed his master.

Tap.

The sound of his toe striking the pebble echoed through the yard.

His eyes gradually filled with tears.

Just as his sadness swelled enough for tears to spill over...

Footsteps echoed nearby.

Mok Ri-won abruptly raised his head.

His master was inside the thatched cottage, yet the footsteps came from the opposite direction.